News
Ford BlueCruise, GM SuperCruise ranked as best Driver Assistance systems, Tesla Autopilot ranks 7th
Ford’s BlueCruise and General Motors’ SuperCruise were ranked in the top two spots in Consumer Reports’ recent analysis of twelve Active Driving Assistance Systems, while Tesla Autopilot was ranked seventh.
Among the manufacturers involved in the study, Ford and GM performed better than Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota/Lexus, Volkswagen/Audi, Tesla, Rivian, Nissan/Infinity, Honda/Acura, Volvo/Polestar, and Hyundai/Kia/Genesis. Ford and GM’s driver monitoring systems were also lauded during CR’s 2022 testing.
Systems were tested around a track at CR’s Auto Test Center and on a 50-mile loop on public roads from September to December 2022. Each system had forty separate tests, and was evaluated in five specific categories: capability and performance, keeping the driver engaged, ease of use, clear when safe to use, and unresponsive driver.
According to the report directly from CR, Ford and GM’s ADAS options use “direct driver monitoring systems,” or DDMS, that require driver eyes to remain on the road, even while actions like steering, acceleration, and braking are being automated by the vehicles. These systems are crucial in CR’s grading scale, and the firm said it awards extra points to options that hold drivers accountable with DDMS. Additionally, systems that do not have DDMS will have points deducted.
Ford BlueCruise (Credit: Ford)
Here are the gradings and ratings:
- Ford BlueCruise/Lincoln ActiveGlide – 84
- Chevrolet/GMC/Cadillac/General Motors Super Cruise – 75
- Mercedes-Benz Driver Assistance – 72
- BMW Driving Assistance Professional – 69
- Toyota Safety Sense 3.0/Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 – 65
- Volkswagen Travel Assist/Audi Adaptive Cruise Assist – 62
- Tesla Autopilot – 61
- Rivian Highway Assist – 59
- Nissan/Infiniti ProPILOT Assist – 58
- Honda Sensing/Acura AcuraWatch – 58
- Volvo/Polestar Pilot Assist – 53
- Hyundai/Kia/Genesis Highway Driving Assist – 47
The Elephant in the Room: Where Tesla Fell Short, according to CR
Tesla was given the following grades in the five categories that were assessed:
- Capabilities and Performance – 9/10
- Keeping Driver Engaged – 3/10
- Ease of Use – 5/10
- Clear When Safe to Use – 3/10
- Unresponsive Driver – 4/10
CR said that Tesla has fallen from its second-place spot in 2020 to mid-pack because the automaker “hasn’t changed Autopilot’s basic functionality much since it first came out, instead just adding more features to it.”
“After all this time, Autopilot still doesn’t allow collaborative steering and doesn’t have an effective driver monitoring system,” Jake Fisher of CR said. “While other automakers have evolved their ACC (adaptive cruise control) and LCA (lane-centering assistance) systems, Tesla has simply fallen behind.”
One portion of the testing where CR was most critical was when Tesla and Mercedes-Benz’s systems allowed the vehicle to drive down the highway completely hands-free for roughly thirty seconds before audible alerts were given. Kelly Funkhouser, CR’s Manager of Vehicle Technology, estimated that it was roughly a half mile on a highway before the vehicles alerted the driver to pay attention to the road.
Tesla does have cabin cameras that monitor driver inattentiveness. The Model Y Owners Manual says the following:
“The cabin camera can determine driver inattentiveness and provide you with audible alerts, to remind you to keep your eyes on the road when Autopilot is engaged. By default, images and video from the camera do not leave the vehicle itself and are not transmitted to anyone, including Tesla, unless you enable data sharing. If you enable data sharing and a safety critical event occurs (such as a collision), Model Y shares short cabin camera video clips with Tesla to help us develop future safety enhancements and continuously improve the intelligence of features that rely on the cabin camera.”
In May 2021, Tesla activated camera-based driver monitoring. “The cabin camera above your rearview mirror can now detect and alert driver inattentiveness while Autopilot is engaged,” Tesla said in the notes. Tests of Tesla’s driver monitoring tests showed the system was effective in some instances, especially when looking at cell phones, with alerts coming in 15 seconds.
Tesla was complemented with its lane centering, as it gave smooth steering inputs and kept the car near the center of the lane on straight and curved roads.
However, more compliments came from CR with Tesla’s Adaptive Cruise Control. “The ACC function of Tesla’s Autopilot system is capable of stopping the car, such as at a red light behind another vehicle, for an unlimited amount of time before resuming again. But without an adequate driver monitoring camera,” Funkhouser said,” this is potentially unsafe as there’s no way to know whether the driver is paying attention when the vehicle starts moving again.”
Tesla’s system apparently differs from GM and Ford’s in the sense that BlueCruise and Super Cruise as “both point infrared cameras at driver faces and sound an alert if the driver stops paying attention to the road, even if just for a few seconds.”
You can read Consumer Reports’ full report here.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla is updating Cybertruck owners on its timeline of a massive feature that has yet to ship: Powershare with Powerwall.
Powershare is a bidirectional charging feature exclusive to Cybertruck, which allows the vehicle’s battery to act as a portable power source for homes, appliances, tools, other EVs, and more. It was announced in late 2023 as part of Tesla’s push into vehicle-to-everything energy sharing, and acting as a giant portable charger is the main advantage, as it can provide backup power during outages.
Cybertruck’s Powershare system supports both vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H), making it flexible and well-rounded for a variety of applications.
However, even though the feature was promised with Cybertruck, it has yet to be shipped to vehicles. Tesla communicated with owners through email recently regarding Powershare with Powerwall, which essentially has the pickup act as an extended battery.
Powerwall discharge would be prioritized before tapping into the truck’s larger pack.
However, Tesla is still working on getting the feature out to owners, an email said:
“We’re writing to let you know that the Powershare with Powerwall feature is still in development and is now scheduled for release in mid-2026.
This new release date gives us additional time to design and test this feature, ensuring its ability to communicate and optimize energy sharing between your vehicle and many configurations and generations of Powerwall. We are also using this time to develop additional Powershare features that will help us continue to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
Owners have expressed some real disappointment in Tesla’s continuous delays in releasing the feature, as it was expected to be released by late 2024, but now has been pushed back several times to mid-2026, according to the email.
Foundation Series Cybertruck buyers paid extra, expecting the feature to be rolled out with their vehicle upon pickup.
Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer, Wes Morrill, even commented on the holdup:
As a Cybertruck owner who also has Powerwall, I empathize with the disappointed comments.
To their credit, the team has delivered powershare functionality to Cybertruck customers who otherwise have no backup with development of the powershare gateway. As well as those with solar…
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 12, 2025
He said that “it turned out to be much harder than anticipated to make powershare work seamlessly with existing Powerwalls through existing wall connectors. Two grid-forming devices need to negotiate who will form and who will follow, depending on the state of charge of each, and they need to do this without a network and through multiple generations of hardware, and test and validate this process through rigorous certifications to ensure grid safety.”
It’s nice to see the transparency, but it is justified for some Cybertruck owners to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched.
Tesla has opened its northernmost Supercharger in Fairbanks, Alaska, with eight V4 stalls located in one of the most frigid cities in the U.S.
Located just 196 miles from the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks’s average temperature for the week was around -12 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there are plenty of Tesla owners in Alaska who have been waiting for more charging options out in public.
There are only 36 total Supercharger stalls in Alaska, despite being the largest state in the U.S.
Eight Superchargers were added to Fairbanks, which will eventually be a 48-stall station. Tesla announced its activation today:
North America’s northernmost Supercharger Fairbanks, AK (8 stalls) opened to public. https://t.co/M4l04DZ6B5 pic.twitter.com/zyL6bDuA93
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) December 12, 2025
The base price per kWh is $0.43 at the Fairbanks Supercharger. Thanks to its V4 capabilities, it can charge at speeds up to 325 kW.
Despite being the northernmost Supercharger in North America, it is not even in the Top 5 northernmost Superchargers globally, because Alaska is south of Norway. The northernmost Supercharger is in Honningsvåg, Norway. All of the Top 5 are in the Scandanavian country.
Tesla’s Supercharger expansion in 2025 has been impressive, and although it experienced some early-quarter slowdowns due to V3-to-V4 hardware transitions, it has been the company’s strongest year for deployments.
🚨🚨 Tesla Supercharging had a HUGE year, and they deserve to be recognized.
🍔 Opened Tesla Diner, a drive-in movie theater with awesome, Chef-curated cuisine
🔌 Gave access to Superchargers to several EV makers, including Hyundai, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Lucid, Toyota,… pic.twitter.com/yYT2QEbqoW
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) December 10, 2025
Through the three quarters of 2025, the company has added 7,753 stations and 73,817 stalls across the world, a 16 percent increase in stations and an 18 percent increase in stalls compared to last year.
Tesla is on track to add over 12,000 stalls for the full year, achieving an average of one new stall every hour, an impressive statistic.
Recently, the company wrapped up construction at its Supercharger Oasis in Lost Hills, California, a 168-stall Supercharger that Tesla Solar Panels completely power. It is the largest Supercharger in the world.
News
Tesla shocks with latest Robotaxi testing move
Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”
Tesla Model S vehicles were spotted performing validation testing with LiDAR rigs in California today, a pretty big switch-up compared to what we are used to seeing on the roads.
Tesla utilizes the Model Y crossover for its Robotaxi fleet. It is adequately sized, the most popular vehicle in its lineup, and is suitable for a wide variety of applications. It provides enough luxury for a single rider, but enough room for several passengers, if needed.
However, the testing has seemingly expanded to one of Tesla’s premium flagship offerings, as the Model S was spotted with the validation equipment that is seen entirely with Model Y vehicles. We have written several articles on Robotaxi testing mules being spotted across the United States, but this is a first:
🚨 Tesla is using Model S vehicles fitted with LiDAR rigs to validate FSD and Robotaxi, differing from the Model Ys that it uses typically
Those Model Y vehicles have been on the East Coast for some time. These Model S cars were spotted in California https://t.co/CN9Bw5Wma8 pic.twitter.com/UE55hx5mdd
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) December 11, 2025
Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”
It seems to hint that Tesla could add a premium, more luxury offering to its Robotaxi platform eventually. Think about it: Uber has Uber Black, Lyft has Lyft Black. These vehicles and services are associated with a more premium cost as they combine luxury models with more catered transportation options.
Tesla could be testing the waters here, and it could be thinking of adding the Model S to its fleet of ride-hailing vehicles.
Reluctant to remove the Model S from its production plans completely despite its low volume contributions to the overall mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy, the flagship sedan has always meant something. CEO Elon Musk referred to it, along with its sibling Model X, as continuing on production lines due to “sentimental reasons.”
However, its purpose might have been expanded to justify keeping it around, and why not? It is a cozy, premium offering, and it would be great for those who want a little more luxury and are willing to pay a few extra dollars.
Of course, none of this is even close to confirmed. However, it is reasonable to speculate that the Model S could be a potential addition to the Robotaxi fleet. It’s capable of all the same things the Model Y is, but with more luxuriousness, and it could be the perfect addition to the futuristic fleet.
Tesla updates Cybertruck owners about key Powershare feature
Tesla’s northernmost Supercharger in North America opens
